Even though it spent the weekend in sunny Miami, the Huskie basketball team must view the snow-covered fields of DeKalb as home sweet home.

NIU dropped a 70-67 decision to the Florida International Golden Panthers Saturday night, dropping its road record to 1-7 (8-7 overall). The Panthers moved to 4-14 with the win.

“We have a long way to go,” said coach Jim Molinari. “It’s extremely disappointing. We should be able to come in and beat a team like this but right now we haven’t found leadership or a way to dig in and win on the road. It takes a lot of toughness and execution.”

The Panthers built a quick 11-4 lead before Donald Whiteside hit consecutive three-pointers and Stacy Arrington hit a basket to put NIU on top, 12-11.

Donnell “D-Train” Thomas pumped in 11 of his game-high 21 points in the half that ended with the Huskies holding a 31-30 lead.

The Panthers led the foul-plagued second half, 42-40, when NIU’s Randy Fens and Andrew Wells picked up their fourth fouls. FI outscored the Huskies 8-0 in the next three minutes to give them a 50-42 advantage. The Panthers retained the lead for the rest of the game.

NIU jabbed away at the FI lead and pulled to within two (68-64) on Mike Hidden’s three-pointer with 21 seconds left. After a Panthers free-throw, Thomas hit two free-throws to pull the Huskies to within two. FI’s Cesar Bocachia, who led the Panthers with 16 points, and Mike Lewis hit key free-throws in the final seconds to preserve the FI victory.

Molinari was dissapointed with his squad’s defensive effort in the closing half. “We played solid defense (in the first half), we didn’t do that in the second half, we were up 7 playing well and we let up, threw the ball away and stopped playing defense.”

Along with Thomas’ 21-point and 11 rebound effort, NIU was bolstered by Mike Hidden’s career-high 14 points. “Mike Hidden hit some good shots,” said Molinari. “He did a good job guarding some of their people. He did a nice job guarding Bocachia.”

With his 21-point output, Thomas moved into the twelfth spot on the all-time NIU scoring list. The six-foot-four Chicago native now has 1,131 points in his NIU career.

“We’ve got a lot of growing to do,” said Molinari. “(But) I’m not discouraged. We have to recruit some height and hit the weights—that was shown tonight.

“It gets much tougher. Evansville is better then Florida International and Wright State has the best record among Independents,” said Molinari about NIU’s next two matches, both on the road.

The Huskies do not return to the friendly confines of Chick Evans Field House, where they are 8-1, until the rematch with Florida International on Feb. 8.